Methods of assigning products from a shared shopping list to participating shoppers using shopper characteristics and product parameters and related systems

ABSTRACT

A method of assigning products to shoppers can be provided by determining that a plurality of shoppers are collaborating with one another to purchase a plurality of products included on a shared shopping list, receiving shopper characteristics for the plurality of shoppers, receiving respective parameters for the plurality of products included on the shared shopping list, assigning respective sub-lists of the plurality of products for picking by respective ones of the shoppers at a retail shopping location based on the shopper characteristics for the respective ones of the shoppers and the respective parameters for the plurality of products included on the shared shopping list, and providing the respective sub-lists of the plurality of products to the plurality of shoppers. Related systems are also disclosed.

FIELD

The present invention relates to the field of data processing, ingeneral, and to retail sales data processing in particular.

BACKGROUND

Existing shopping list applications such as Grocery Pal™, can providethe capability to create shopping lists that can be used during shoppingtrips. In the area of order fulfillment, such as e-commerce, it is knownto hold and distribute customer orders simultaneously to pickers in afacility in one or more batches. The pickers can collect products in theorders from product locations within the facility and bring the productsto a central location where they are organized, packed, and shipped tocustomers, as discussed for example in U.S. Patent Publication No.2019/0325377.

SUMMARY

Embodiments according to the present invention can provide methods ofassigning products from a collaborative shopping list to participatingshoppers using shopper characteristics and product parameters andrelated systems. Pursuant to these embodiments, a method of assigningproducts to shoppers can be provided by determining that a plurality ofshoppers are collaborating with one another to purchase a plurality ofproducts included on a shared shopping list, receiving shoppercharacteristics for the plurality of shoppers, receiving respectiveparameters for the plurality of products included on the shared shoppinglist, assigning respective sub-lists of the plurality of products forpicking by respective ones of the shoppers at a retail shopping locationbased on the shopper characteristics for the respective ones of theshoppers and the respective parameters for the plurality of productsincluded on the shared shopping list, and providing the respectivesub-lists of the plurality of products to the plurality of shoppers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a retail store layout includingaisles with shelving and other displays configured to hold products forpicking by shoppers in some embodiments according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating methods of assigning products on ashared shopping list to respective shopper sub-lists for picking duringshopping in some embodiments according to the invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a system configured to assign products onthe shared shopping list to the respective shopper sub-lists based oncharacteristics of the shoppers and parameters of the products on theshared shopping list in some embodiments according to the invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of a scoring method used to assignparticular products to particular shopper sub-lists based on thecharacteristics of the shoppers and the parameters of the products onthe shopping list in some embodiments according to the invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of methods of determining whethershoppers are using a shared shopping list in some embodiments accordingto the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS ACCORDING TO THE INVENTION

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detailwith reference to the accompanying drawings. The disclosure may,however, be exemplified in many different forms and should not beconstrued as being limited to the specific exemplary embodiments setforth herein. Rather, these exemplary embodiments are provided so thatthis disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey thescope of the disclosure to those skilled in the art.

As appreciated by the present inventors, in some embodiments accordingto the invention, products that appear on a shared shopping list can beassigned for “picking” (i.e., retrieval from a shelf or display) toselected shoppers within a group of shoppers that are determined to becollaborating on the purchase of the products. The assignment ofproducts from the share shopping list can be based on a combination ofthe determined shopper characteristics of the shoppers in the group andthe parameters of the products on the shared shopping list. For example,in some embodiments according to the invention, shoppers who aredetermined to be relatively mobile (e.g., a shopper characteristic) canbe assigned to pick products that are located relatively far from anentrance to the retail location (e.g., a product parameter) or lie alonga long path that may be taken by a shopper to also conveniently retrieveother products. Conversely, shoppers who are determined to have lowermobility can be assigned to pick products that are closer to theentrance, for example.

Furthermore, a number of the shopper characteristics and productparameters can be combined with one another so that more than oneshopper characteristic and/or product parameter can be considered inassigning particular products for picking by particular shoppers. Forexample, in some embodiments according to the invention, the shopper'sphysical ability (such as relative reaching, lifting, and bendingability) can be combined with the product placement (such as what shelfthe product is located on) both of which can be further combined withthe mobility characteristic and location parameter described above tofurther refine the assignment of which products are to be picked by whatshoppers, Accordingly, a number of shopper characteristics can becombined with respective product parameters to optimize the productassignments within the group of shoppers.

In some embodiments according to the invention, the shoppercharacteristics of the shoppers can be determined through a number ofapproaches. For example, in some embodiments according to the invention,the shoppers can provide information that can be used to derive some ofthe shopper characteristics which may be used, such as height, age,weight, activity interests (such as sports in which they participate).In some embodiments according to the invention, the shoppers can beprompted for ratings for the shopper characteristics used to determinewhich products to assign to the shoppers in the group. For example, insome embodiments according to the invention, the shoppers can bepromoted to rate their mobility, physical ability, etc. The informationmay then be associated with the respective shopper's loyalty programaccount so that the information can be provided when the shopper isindicated as participating in a shared shopping list and is detected aspresent at a retail location.

In still further embodiments according to the invention, the group ofshoppers can be determined as collaborating through a number ofalternative approaches. For example, in some embodiments according tothe invention, the group of shoppers can register in advance as sharinga shopping list by providing the shared shopping list and providingtheir respective identification information, such as their respectiveloyalty program numbers, their mobile phone number, etc. When the groupof shoppers arrives at the retail location for shopping, one or more ofthe shoppers can initiate a shared shopping application which has accessto the group's registration information. Alternatively, in embodimentsaccording to the invention, the shared shopping application may beinstantiated automatically when one or more of the shoppersparticipating in the shared shopping list is detected at a retaillocation.

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of a retail store layout 100including aisles 1-5 with shelving and other displays configured to holdproducts P1-P12 for picking by shoppers S1-S4 in some embodimentsaccording to the invention. According to FIG. 1 , the shoppers S1-S4 canbe detected arriving, for example, at an entrance 110 or parking area ofthe retail location 100. Upon detecting the presence of at least one theshoppers S1-S4, the system can determine whether the shoppers S1-S4 arecollaborating on the purchase of products that are listed on a sharedshopping list in some embodiments according to the invention.

It will be understood that the determination that the shoppers S1-S4 arecollaborating can be accomplished by of various approaches. For example,in some embodiments according to the invention, if at least one of theshoppers S1-S4 has registered as using a shared shopping list, theshopper's mobile device (using an app, for example, that is used for theshared shopping list) may announce the presence of the shopper.Similarly, the other shoppers may also be identified as participating inthe same shared shopping list, which can be used to identify other onesof the shoppers in the group. It will be understood that the shoppersmay also elect to use an electronic device supplied by the retaillocation, which may prompt the shopper for identification.

In some embodiments, an image recognition system 115 can access a facialrecognition system to identify at least one of the shoppers S1-S4. Insome embodiments according to the invention, the system may then use theidentity of the shopper to access a database of shared shopping lists todetermine whether the recognized shopper has posted a shared shoppinglist for use during a collaborative trip to the retail location 100.Similarly, the other shoppers may also be identified by the facialrecognition system which can then be used to determine whether thoseshoppers are part of the group of shoppers collaborating in the sharedshopping list.

In still further embodiments according to the invention, the imagerecognition system 115 may recognize the shoppers S1-S4 as beingtogether and may prompt at least one of the recognized shoppers S1-S4 asto whether that group is participating in a collaborative shopping tripusing a shared shopping list. If the response indicates that they arecollaborating in the purchase of products, the system may requestidentification from each of the shoppers S1-S4 or may utilize data fromthe mobile devices associated with the shoppers S1-S4 to identify theshoppers.

It will be understood that once the shoppers S1-S4 are recognized by thesystem, shopping characteristics for each of the shoppers S1-S4 can beaccessed by the system. As described herein, the shoppingcharacteristics of the shoppers S1-S4 can include data which describesthe capabilities and slash or restrictions that may be associated withparticular shoppers. For example, in some embodiments according to theinvention, the shopping characteristics of the shoppers S1-S4 caninclude a mobility rating for the shopper (such as how easily theshopper is able to move around the location 100), a physical capabilityrating (such as a rating that indicates how able the shopper is toretrieve products from displays), an allergy characteristic (such asbeing allergic to peanut), and an aversion characteristic (such as acategory of a product that the shopper prefers to avoid—such as alcohol,candy, etc.). It will be understood that the preceding list is only anexample of the characteristics that may be associated with shoppers andother characteristics may also be included and/or derived from shoppercharacteristics that are explicitly listed. In some embodimentsaccording to the invention, a natural language processing system canderive shopper characteristics from unstructured data provided by theshopper.

As further shown in FIG. 1 , products P1-P12 are placed in variouslocations within the store layout 100. Although twelve products areshown in FIG. 1 it will be understood that any number of products can bein the retail store layout 100. It will be understood that once thesystem can access a shared shopping list as described above, theparameters associated with each of those products P1-P12 can also beaccessed. In some embodiments according to the invention. the associatedparameters of the products can include, for example, the location of theproducts within the retail location 100, the shelf height at which theproducts are placed, the ingredients in the product, the physicalattributes of the product (such as weight, overall dimensions, abulkiness rating, whether the product has a handle as part of thepackaging, etc.). It will be understood that the preceding list is onlyan example of the parameters that may be associated with the productsand other parameters may also be included and/or derived from productparameters that are explicitly listed.

The system can then combine the shopper characteristics of the shoppersS1-S4 with the parameters for the products included on the sharedshopping list to assign particular ones of the products P1-P12 forretrieval by the particular ones shoppers S1-S4. Accordingly, arespective sub-list may be provided to each of the shoppers S1-S4 whichis tailored to suit their shopping capability given the particularproducts on the list.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating methods 200 of assigning products onthe shared shopping list to respective shoppers sub-lists for selectionduring shopping in some embodiments according to the invention.According to FIG. 2 , the shared shopping list has already been providedor determined in advance of the presence of the shoppers S1-S4 oralternatively is provided dynamically by the shoppers upon arrival atthe retail location 100 (Block 205). Still further the system determinesthat each of the plurality of shoppers S1-S4 is participating in thecollaborative shopping list received by the system (Block 210). In someembodiments according to the invention, this determination can be madebased on an affirmative response from each of the shoppers S1-S4 oralternatively by registering in advance in a database that is accessibleto the system as described herein.

The system then receives the shopper characteristics for each of theplurality of shoppers S1-S4. In some embodiments according to theinvention, the shopper characteristics of can include a mobilitycharacteristic or rating that defines the relative mobility of therespective shopper (block 215). For example, a rating 5 in a range of1-5 may represent a shopper that is relatively mobile whereas a ratingof 1 can indicate that the shopper is less mobile, such as when theshopper may need the assistance of a cane or walking frame. The shoppercharacteristics can also include a physical ability characteristic thatindicates a rating of how capable the shopper is in reaching andretrieving products that are stored on a higher shelf such or on a lowershelf that may require bending. In some embodiments according to theinvention, a rating of 1 may indicate relatively little ability to reachand lift objects whereas a rating of 5 may indicate very littlerestriction where products may be reached and retrieved by the shopper.The shopper characteristics can also include an allergy characteristicwhich indicates an allergy to ingredients. The shopper characteristicscan also include an aversion characteristic that indicates category(s)of product(s) that the shopper prefers to avoid being exposed to duringthe shopping trip, such as candy, alcohol, tobacco, or other products.

Still further, the system can receive the respective parameters for eachof the products listed on the shared shopping list (block 220). In someembodiments according to the invention, the respective parameters foreach of the products can include, for example, a location of the productwithin the store which indicates the distance that may need to betraveled by the shopper to reach the location of the particular product,a placement height of the product at the location, a list of ingredientsin the product, and a category in which the product is included, and anindication of the physical attributes of the product such as its weight,its overall size, whether the product has a handle, etc.

In some embodiments according to the invention, once the system receivesthe shopper characteristics and the parameters for the products on theshared shopping list, the system can generate a score for each producton the shared shopping list by combining the respective parameter of theproduct with the shopper characteristics for each of the shoppers (Block225). Accordingly, the system may generate a score for each of theshoppers to pick the particular product on the list and then may comparethe scores for each shopper to determine which shopper should beassigned to pick the particular product. For example, a certain productmay be relatively bulky or heavy and therefore the system may determinethat a particular shopper who is well suited for retrieving that productin that location is best suited for retrieving that product whereas asecond shopper who has a lower rating or is less mobile may avoid havingthat product assigned. Accordingly, in some embodiments according to theinvention, the system can determine a respective sub-list for each ofthe shoppers to retrieve during the shared shopping trip (Block 230).

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a system 300 configured to assign productsP1-P12 on the shared shopping list 315 to the respective shoppersub-lists 335 based on characteristics of the shoppers and parameters ofthe products on the shared shopping list 315 in some embodimentsaccording to the invention. According to FIG. 3 , in some embodimentsaccording to the invention, the system 300 can operate using a processorcircuit 305 that is operatively coupled to a memory 310.

As further shown in FIG. 3 , the processor circuit is operativelycoupled to services that can provide the data described herein. Inparticular, the processor circuit 305 can access a shopping listregistration system 320 that includes shared shopping lists (SL1-SLn)and each of the shoppers that is collaborating on the respectiveshopping list. For example, shopping list SL1 includes a reference toshoppers S1-S4 and thereby indicates that shoppers S1-S4 arecollaborating on the purchase of products listed in shopping list SL1.

As further shown in FIG. 3 , in some embodiments according to theinvention, the processor circuit 305 is also coupled to a sharedshopping list database 300 that includes the products listed on each ofthe shopping lists stored in the shopping list registration system 320.For example, the shared shopping list database 315 includes aninstantiation of shopping list SL1 that includes products P1-P12 on theshared shopping list SL1 and are to be purchased by the shoppers S1-S4during the collaborative shopping trip. As further shown in FIG. 3 theshared shopping list database 315 includes an identification for each ofthe products P1-P12.

The processor circuit 305 is also operatively coupled to a productparameters database 325 that stores the parameters for each of theproducts included on the shared shopping list SL1. As described herein,the product parameters can include, for example, the location of theproduct at the retail location, a physical attribute (such as weight,bulkiness, etc.), a list of ingredients in the product, and a categoryin which the product is included. It will be understood that althoughthe databases shown herein are described as including all of theinformation described, the system 300 may provide the parameters andcharacteristics described herein by referring to other systems which arealso operatively coupled to the system 300 and may not necessarily beincluded in a single system.

As further shown in FIG. 3 , the processor circuit 305 includes ashopper characteristics database 330 which includes the characteristicsof the shoppers S1-S4 as described herein. As further shown in FIG. 3the system 300 can also be operatively coupled to the image recognitionsystem 115 that can be used to identify the presence of the shoppersS1-S4 as well as the identities of the shoppers S1-S4 so that thecharacteristics of the shoppers can be retrieved by the processorcircuit 305 in some embodiments according to the invention. It will beunderstood that in some embodiments according to the invention, theidentification of the shoppers S1-S4 is provided so that the shopperscan be associated with the shared shopping list while also avoidingidentifying the shoppers' private information such as the shoppers'names. For example, in some embodiments according to the invention, theidentification can be provided by associating the shoppers withrespective loyalty membership numbers, physical attributes of theshoppers, or similar information that identifies that the shopper isparticipating in the shared shopping list while avoiding the personalidentification of the shopper.

Once the processor circuit 305 has access to the product parameters forP1-P12 stored in the product parameter database 325 and the shoppercharacteristics for S1-S4 listed in the shopper characteristic database330, the processor circuit 305 can determine which of the products toassign to the shoppers S1-S4 and thereby create the respective sub-listfor each of the shoppers S1-S4 shown in the data structure 335. Forexample, in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 3 , shopper S1 isassigned to retrieve products P4-P6, shopper S2 is assigned to retrieveproducts P1-P3, shopper S3 is assigned to retrieve products P10-P12, andshopper S4 is assigned to retrieve products P7-P9.

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of a scoring method 400 used toassign particular products to particular shopper sub-lists based on thecharacteristics of the shoppers and the parameters of the products onthe shopping list in some embodiments according to the invention.According to FIG. 4 , the schematic representation of the shoppercharacteristics are shown as including a mobility rating (M) which canbe provided on a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 represents relatively littlemobility, whereas 5 represents greater mobility, a physical ability (PA)also having a rating of 1 to 5, an allergy ingredient (AL) which listsingredients or materials that the particular shopper is allergic to, andan aversion category (AV) identifying categories of products that theshopper prefers to avoid exposure to during a shopping trip.

As further shown in FIG. 4 , the product parameters stored in theproduct parameter database 325 can include the distance (D) that thelocation of the particular product represents from the entrance of theretail location 100 to the placement of the product at the retaillocation, the physical package (PP) of the product, a list ofingredients (I) in the product, and the category (C) in which theproduct is included.

As further shown in FIG. 4 , the score for a particular shopper toretrieve a particular product can be determined by combining thecharacteristics for the shopper with the parameters for the particularproduct under analysis. Accordingly, in some embodiments according tothe invention, the score for a shopper relative to a particular productcan be determined by:

Score=[(M×D)+(PA)×(PP)]×(Allergy Factor)×(Aversion Factor)  (1)

In some embodiments according to the invention, the allergy factor andthe aversion factor can be 0 or 1 whereby if the shopper has indicatedthat they have a particular allergy to a material and that material isincluded as an ingredient in the product, the allergy factor can be setto 0. Accordingly, if the shopper has an allergy to an ingredient in theproduct, a factor of 0 will result in the score for the shopper relativeto the particular product to be 0. Similarly, the aversion factor can beset to 0 if a product is included in a category which generallydescribes a product which the shopper would like to avoid exposure toduring the shopping trip. Thereby if the aversion factor is 0, the scorefor the shopper relative to the particular product may also be 0.Accordingly, either an allergy factor or an aversion factor of 0 willresult in the score for the shopper relative to the particular productto be 0. Otherwise, the allergy factor and the aversion factor can beset to 1.

Accordingly, if the score for the particular shopper relative to theproduct is 0, that shopper will not be assigned to retrieve that productduring the shopping trip. Although the combination of the parameters andshopper characteristics described above according to Equation (1) itwill be understood that other techniques may be used to combine thecharacteristics and parameters as described herein which will result inthe assignment of products for retrieval by particular ones of theshoppers S1-S4.

In still further embodiments according to the invention, the score forthe shopper relative to the physical product can be determined based onequalizing the number of products assigned to each of the shoppers, oralternatively can be determined to equalize the time that is estimatedfor each of the shoppers to retrieve their assigned products. Forexample, in some embodiments according to the invention, shoppers thathave a lower mobility rating may be assigned fewer products whereasshoppers with higher mobility may be assigned more products so that thetime that is estimated for each of the shoppers to gather theirrespective products on their sub-lists is reduced so that all shoppersare estimated to complete their shopping at about the same time.

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of methods of determining whethershoppers S1-S4 are collaborating using a shared shopping list in someembodiments according to the invention. According to FIG. 5 the shoppersS1-S4 are shown being detected by the image recognition system 115. Oncebeing detected, the image recognition system 115 can communicate with acommunications device 505 which can detect any one of a mobile devicethat is associated with the plurality of shoppers S1-S4 which may aidein identifying the shoppers as S1-S4 and/or retrieving a shopping listwhich is intended to be a shared shopping list for the collaborativeshopping trip. Still further, the system may use the communicationdevice 505 to query each of the shoppers S1-S4 if they are participatingin a collaborative shopping trip and if they would like to provide ashared shopping list for the trip which may then be utilized by thesystem 300 in FIG. 3 to access the information such as the productparameters and shoppers characteristics so as to assign each of theshoppers S1-S4 a respective sub-list dynamically.

As described herein, products that appear on a shared shopping list canbe assigned for “picking” (i.e., retrieval from a shelf or display) toselected shoppers within a group of shoppers that are determined to becollaborating on the purchase of the products. The assignment ofproducts from the share shopping list can be based on a combination ofthe determined shopper characteristics of the shoppers in the group andthe parameters of the products on the shared shopping list. For example,in some embodiments according to the invention, shoppers who aredetermined to be relatively mobile (e.g., a shopper characteristic) canbe assigned to pick products that are located relatively far from anentrance to the retail location (e.g., a product parameter) or lie alonga long path that may be taken by a shopper to also conveniently retrieveother products. Conversely, shoppers who are determined to have lowermobility can be assigned to pick products that are closer to theentrance, for example.

Furthermore, a number of the shopper characteristics and productparameters can be combined with one another so that more than oneshopper characteristic and/or product parameter can be considered inassigning particular products for picking by particular shoppers. Forexample, in some embodiments according to the invention, the shopper'sphysical ability (such as relative reaching, lifting, and bendingability) can be combined with the product placement (such as what shelfthe product is located on) both of which can be further combined withthe mobility characteristic and location parameter described above tofurther refine the assignment of which products are to be picked by whatshoppers, Accordingly, a number of shopper characteristics can becombined with respective product parameters to optimize the productassignments within the group of shoppers.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting to otherembodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” areintended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearlyindicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms“comprises,” “comprising,” “includes” and/or “including”, “have” and/or“having” when used herein, specify the presence of stated features,integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do notpreclude the presence or addition of one or more other features,integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groupsthereof. Elements described as being “to” perform functions, acts and/oroperations may be configured to or other structured to do so.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientificterms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by oneof ordinary skill in the art to which various embodiments describedherein belong. It will be further understood that terms used hereinshould be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with theirmeaning in the context of this specification and the relevant art andwill not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unlessexpressly so defined herein.

As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, various embodimentsdescribed herein may be embodied as a method, data processing system,and/or computer program product. Furthermore, embodiments may take theform of a computer program product on a tangible computer readablestorage medium having computer program code embodied in the medium thatcan be executed by a computer.

Any combination of one or more computer readable media may be utilized.The computer readable media may be a computer readable signal medium ora computer readable storage medium. A computer readable storage mediummay be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic,optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus,or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specificexamples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readable storage mediumwould include the following: a portable computer diskette, a hard disk,a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, amagnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.In the context of this document, a computer readable storage medium maybe any tangible medium that can contain, or store a program for use byor in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, ordevice.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signalwith computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may takeany of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to,electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. Acomputer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium thatis not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate,propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device. Program codeembodied on a computer readable signal medium may be transmitted usingany appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wired,optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of theforegoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent disclosure may be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including an object oriented programming languagesuch as Java, Scala, Smalltalk, Eiffel, JADE, Emerald, C++, C #, VB.NET,Python or the like, conventional procedural programming languages, suchas the “C” programming language, Visual Basic, Fortran 2003, Perl, COBOL2002, PHP, ABAP, dynamic programming languages such as Python, Ruby andGroovy, or other programming languages, such as a programming languagefor a FPGA, Verilog, System Verilog, Hardware Description language(HDL), and VHDL. The program code may execute entirely on the user'scomputer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider)or in a cloud computer environment or offered as a service such as aSoftware as a Service (SaaS).

Some embodiments are described herein with reference to flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, systems and computerprogram products according to embodiments. It will be understood thateach block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, andcombinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or blockdiagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. Thesecomputer program instructions may be provided to a processor of ageneral purpose computer, special purpose computer, or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such thatthe instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer orother programmable data processing apparatus, create a mechanism forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computerreadable medium that when executed can direct a computer, otherprogrammable data processing apparatus, or other devices to function ina particular manner, such that the instructions when stored in thecomputer readable medium produce an article of manufacture includinginstructions which when executed, cause a computer to implement thefunction/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks. The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable instruction execution apparatus, or otherdevices to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on thecomputer, other programmable apparatuses or other devices to produce acomputer implemented process such that the instructions which execute onthe computer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

It is to be understood that the functions/acts noted in the blocks mayoccur out of the order noted in the operational illustrations. Forexample, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executedsubstantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed inthe reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved.Although some of the diagrams include arrows on communication paths toshow a primary direction of communication, it is to be understood thatcommunication may occur in the opposite direction to the depictedarrows.

Many different embodiments have been disclosed herein, in connectionwith the above description and the drawings. It will be understood thatit would be unduly repetitious and obfuscating to literally describe andillustrate every combination and subcombination of these embodiments.Accordingly, all embodiments can be combined in any way and/orcombination, and the present specification, including the drawings,shall support claims to any such combination or subcombination.

While the foregoing is directed to aspects of the present disclosure,other and further embodiments of the disclosure may be devised withoutdeparting from the basic scope thereof, and the scope thereof isdetermined by the claims that follow.

1. A method of assigning products to shoppers, the method comprising:identifying, using an image recognition system, a plurality of shoppersthat are collaborating with one another to obtain a plurality ofproducts associated with a shared shopping list; determining a shoppercharacteristic for each shopper of the plurality of shoppers, whereinthe shopper characteristic relates to at least one of an age, a weight,a mobility level, a reaching ability, a lifting ability, or a bendingability of a respective shopper, and wherein said determining comprisesat least one of using information registered with the respectiveshopper, processing image data from the image recognition system, orprocessing mobile device movement data; accessing stored productinformation corresponding to the plurality of products included on theshared shopping list, wherein the stored product information comprisesat least one physical attribute of each product of the plurality ofproducts; and generating, for each shopper of the plurality of shoppers,a score for each product of the plurality of products based on theshopper characteristics and the stored product information, wherein arespective score is indicative of an estimated physical ability of arespective shopper to retrieve a respective product; assigning asub-group of the plurality of products to each shopper based onrespective scores for each product and an estimated time for eachshopper to retrieve an assigned product.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the shopper characteristic further includes at least one of anallergy characteristic indicative of an allergy of the respectiveshopper or an aversion characteristic indicative of a category ofproducts that the respective shopper prefers to avoid exposure to duringa shopping trip.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the shoppercharacteristics are determined from the image data.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the at least one physical attribute comprises at leastone of a location of the respective product, a placement height of therespective product, a list of ingredients of the respective product, ora category of the respective product.
 5. (canceled)
 6. (canceled)
 7. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said identifying the plurality of shoppersfurther comprises: detecting that the plurality of shoppers haveregistered as collaborating with one another or receiving respectiveindications, in response to respective inquiries, that the plurality ofshoppers are collaborating with one another.
 8. The method of claim 1,wherein providing respective sub-groups of the plurality of products forpicking by respective ones of the shoppers comprises: providing anindication of a respective sub-group to a shopper assigned to therespective sub-group.
 9. (canceled)
 10. The method of claim 1, whereinsaid identifying the plurality of shoppers comprising identifying theplurality of shoppers from image data captured by the image recognitionsystem at a retail shopping location.
 11. A method of assigning productsto shoppers, the method comprising: receiving a shared shopping listindicative of a plurality of products to be purchased from a retailer ata retail location; identifying, using an image recognition system, aplurality of shoppers that are collaborating with one another to obtainthe plurality of products associated with the shared shopping list;determining shopper characteristics for each of the plurality ofshoppers, wherein the shopper characteristic relates to at least one ofan age, a weight, a mobility level, a reaching ability, a liftingability, or a bending ability of a respective shopper, and wherein saiddetermining comprises at least one of using information registered withthe respective shopper, processing image data from the image recognitionsystem, or processing mobile device movement data; generating a mobilityscore for each shopper based on respective shopper characteristics, andwherein a respective mobility score is indicative of a physical abilityretrieve products; obtaining stored product information for each of theplurality of products included on the shared shopping list, the storedproduct information including at least one of an indication of weight,size, shape, or placement height on a shelf; assigning a sub-group ofthe plurality of products to each shopper based on the mobility scoresand the stored product information, wherein said assigning distributesthe plurality of products to the plurality of shoppers to account for anestimated physical ability of each shopper and an estimated total timefor each shopper to retrieve products of an assigned sub-group; andproviding an indication of the respective sub-groups to the plurality ofshoppers.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein said generating themobility scores comprises: combining the stored product information witha corresponding one of the shopper characteristics for each of theshoppers so that differences in estimated shopping times for each of theshoppers to pick the products on the respective sub-group are reduced.13. The method of claim 11, wherein said identifying of the plurality ofshoppers comprises: detecting that the plurality of shoppers haveregistered as collaborating with one another or receiving respectiveindications, in response to respective inquiries, that the that theplurality of shoppers are collaborating with one another.
 14. The methodof claim 11, wherein providing the indication of the respectivesub-groups to the plurality of shoppers comprises: providing arespective sub-group to a shopper assigned to the respective sub-group.15. (canceled)
 16. (canceled)
 17. The method of claim 11, whereinproviding the indication of the respective sub-groups to the pluralityof shoppers comprises: detecting a presence of all of the plurality ofshoppers at a location of the retailer; and providing a respectivesub-group to a respective assigned shopper.
 18. (canceled)
 19. Themethod of claim 1, wherein said assigning comprises assigning such thatan equal number of products is assigned to each shopper.
 20. The methodof claim 1, wherein said assigning comprises assigning such that a totalexpected time to acquire all products for a particular sub-group iswithin a timing threshold relative to a total expected time to acquireall products for other sub-groups.
 21. The method of claim 11, whereinsaid assigning comprises assigning such that an equal number of productsis assigned to each shopper.
 22. The method of claim 11, wherein saidassigning comprises assigning such that a total expected time to acquireall products for a particular sub-group is within a timing thresholdrelative to a total expected time to acquire all products for othersub-groups.